Heliconia Good For Cut Flowers

Robert Haehle - GROWING CONCERNS

January 9, 1998|Robert Haehle

Q. Could you identify the plant from the enclosed pictures? It was called a miniature bird-of-paradise at Home Depot. The flowers are yellow. Snails are eating the leaves. Is there any control? I have three sago palms that I planted that are now pineapple size. Do you know a nursery that might want to buy them? They have outgrown their area. _ George Bergmann Jr., Deerfield Beach

A. Your plant is a heliconia known as `Golden Torch.' It's a fast spreader and makes an excellent cut flower. It is cold-sensitive and can be frozen down to the ground but will reappear from the roots in the spring. Allow plenty of room for this plant because it can invade other areas.

Slugs can be controlled with a snail bait called Slugetta, saucers sunk in the ground with beer in them or with diatomaceous earth.

I do not know of any nursery that might want the sago palms. They grow to 15-20 feet and need lots of room. Perhaps a neighbor could use them.

Q. My ligustrum trees are near my pool and are always dropping leaves. See enclosed sample. Would the Japanese tree fern be a good substitute? I have a lot of shade from queen and fishtail palms nearby. _ Caryl Eller, Boca Raton

A. Ligustrum trees are nice but messy. Japanese fern tree is even messier. I have a large one with a permanent mulch of fern leaves underneath that must be 2-3 inches deep. Your ligustrums have fungal leaf spot that Daconil will control. Water in the morning only no more than 1-2 times a week. Consider removing the trees if you have too much shade and replacing with something like variegated arboricola, which is neat and shade tolerant. It will grow to a large shrub and will be much less trouble than ligustrum.

Q. We have 40-50 royal palms on our property. Our board of directors said we should not use mulch because it suffocates the roots. All of a sudden some residents have started putting 3-4 inches of cypress mulch around the trees in individual yards because it looks pretty. Will mulch hurt the palms? _ Barbara Worden, Pompano Beach

A. Royal palms can have mulch around them, but the mulch should be kept about 1 to 2 inches away from the trunk or stem. If mulch is up against the trunk, the bark can't breathe and can rot away. This holds true for all plants. A permanent planting of liriope around the base of a palm will protect the trunk from damage by string trimmers, which can girdle and kill the palm. Palms can't heal wounds and are subject to many diseases, which enter through the wounds. The best protection is not to plant palms in open lawns but to incorporate them into beds.